[Kimmi Kappenberg]

Thought I'd throw in my own thoughts for the sake of posterity and because I'm bored. I think I'm gonna rank random things here. Updates to follow.

[Cochran]

subbed

[Dean Kowalski]

better late than never!

[Loveita Adams]

Yessssssssssss

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

Ambitious Ranking #1: Satisfying Winners
I had the idea of ranking the remaining players based on how satisfying they'd be as winners of this season. Like, not entirely based on their gameplay so far, although that's part of it. Their stories and personalities will also be large factors. I will say that there are very few people left that I would find to be a disappointing winner. I think my bottom one or two would be disappointing and that's pretty much it. I would support the rest as winners whole-heartedly. I know there's still a lot of game left to play so everything could change even tomorrow, but this is where I'm at right now, so here goes nothing.


#17

Nothing against her, she's clearly playing a decent game or she wouldn't have made it this far. But she doesn't ever post in her confessional, so I know nothing about her or her game. Does she consider herself to be a mastermind? Does she have solid inroads with all the players that are on the outs? Is she planning on blindsiding Tyler next round? Does she kick puppies in her spare time? Who knows? Certainly not me. And it just seems to me that a person I know nothing about that may or may not kick puppies wouldn't be a very satisfying winner. I just can't root for an alleged puppy kicker.


#16

Bradley gives entertaining confessionals, he's a perfect little ball of snark and ego with just the right mixture of tennis. But that doesn't carry over into his gameplay. He's fairly toothless in the actual game. And while it's fun to see everyone talk about how nice they think he is while he secretly bashes them, it just doesn't really interest me to see that win. Plus at this point it looks like he's going to be voted out anyway.


#15

Yiu can be a good character  but that doesn't mean yiu would be a good winner. Will is a lot of fun :celebrate:and brings a very unique element to this game . He's established himself as a pretty iconic player from the getgo  and he's brought us a lot of drama  and some very fun rounds.   I don't think even he knows what he's going to do next. All that said, he's taken a huge back seat gameplay-wise since like round 2  where he flipped on Mike and he's never really seized control again since. Nothing personal against him but while I'd appreciate a good character to win, I would still like them to have had a little bit of control. Not too late, Will, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you . P.S. I took way too long to put in these very sparse emojis. I don't know how he does it.


#14

This might be controversial, but I'm just not a huge Ricard fan. I don't dislike him, mind you. He's perfectly capable and in a good spot, but in a final 17 with some very big characters and players he's just a little dry to me. In a game full of meatball subs why root for plain white toast? If he was up against some combination of my bottom 3 and won, awesome. But anything else and I'd find it a bit lacking for such an incredible season with a very solid and diverse cast.

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

Definitely gonna do this in chunks

[John]

Bradley would be the most satisfying winner. 

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

#13

This is getting harder already. I love an underdog story and I love that Rachel was the sole Survivor of the Zakros 3 (RIP Michelle and Paul). She's definitely faded into the background in more recent rounds though. To root for her more I'd need to see her taking control a bit more. To be fair, there's a lot of stars to outshine. She was one of the brightest stars in her original group but there's been a lot of competition for her. Here's hoping she's able to be her brightest, shiniest self as the numbers dwindle. But for now there's a few more people that would outdo her as a winner in my mind.


#12



Bret has actually really climbed in my fan favorite rankings since the start of the game. I feel like to begin he was just kinda meh, one of the numbers on OG Zakros and in Jay's shadow along with some of the others like Cece and Ken. But he's stepped it up since the mega merge. He's not the most domineering presence or the biggest strategist but he's involved and he's had some pull in several votes. He's also made several of his own moves, like flipping on James when he knew he was being intentionally excluded. He's not my top pick to win but I would love to see him climb a bit higher.


#11



This pains me because she's my winner pick and I've been #TeamHalsey since day 1, but I don't know if I can justify having her higher than this as things stand right now. She's been doing well (well, up until this past round anyway). But she's been a number a lot of the way so far. She has done a great job at building relationships and patching up some of the damaged ones from earlier in the game. One thing she's really got going for her though is that she's not the biggest target in her current minority and she could easily rise from the ashes again like she did after the Mike vote. She's got the perfect makings of being a great underdog winner, but just needs a little refining.

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

Well this has already aged poorly

[Loveita Adams]

Well this has already aged poorly

#blogging

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

#10



To be completely honest, I'm not as up to speed on Jacob as I am on the other players. I usually catch up on the game at work when it's slow and I can't watch videos at work, and since Jacob pretty much exclusively posts video confessionals I don't have a great grasp of where his head's at. I know he's basically an emissary of chaos when he's not trying to wrangle Dom, and I know he's actually pretty well positioned. He's been a big character and a pretty big player from what I can gather from other confessionals and from the discord channel. So he makes it this high on the ranking due to all that, but it's hard to justify putting him higher without more first hand info.


#9



If it weren't for the most recent swap I don't think I'd have him this high. Since being separated from Jay he's really been able to prove himself as his own player and show that he's just as competent and has the social wherewithal to get himself out of tight situations and into the majority. Definitely color me impressed. He totally has the potential to keep climbing in this ranking as the game moves forward. I only put him as low as I do because I think everyone else just has some slight edge on him at this point in the game and because before the swap I feel like his whole story was being Jay's partner in crime. In tight duos there's always one that overshadows the other, and Jay definitely overshadowed Taylor for me up until recently. If he keeps that up he'll be a great winner if he makes it that far.


#8



I think this is as high as I can justify placing her. It might surprise some people that I put her this high. Her journey so far has been unique to say the least. Yes, she's been a bit hypocritical and yes, she's taken some pretty basic game moves way too personally and has a pretty low bar for what constitutes betrayal, but you can't deny she's unique. In a game this chaotic, what would be more satisfying than a chaotic winner? Especially now that she's kinda starting to really get a handle on the strategic aspect of the game. She's definitely got the social chops to justify it. I don't think a single person she's encountered so far has had a bad thing to say about her upon first meeting her. It's only after a perceived slight that things go sour for her relationships. Her winning would be different, and I like different, even if I disagree with some of her approaches to the game.

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

#7



I've been tossing this one around in my head all day. I've gone up and down on it. I feel like few people in this game have been playing quite as hard as Dom. He's been a huge character and put so much into everything he's done. I appreciate how unique he is to this cast, which is saying something in a cast of 40. Dom, when you eventually read this, you're a champ. That said, I think you know that you're playing a solid villain. And villains are people you root against. I can't imagine putting Dom lower than this with the cast as it is now, but what's better than seeing a villain fail? It would in all honesty be far more satisfying for him to get a bit farther in the game and then get taken down. Ideally around f6 or so. It'd be a great finish to his pretty great journey.


#6



Wendell has played a very strong game. Socially and strategically, he's very well-rounded. He's always been able to finagle a solid position for himself no matter where the cards fall. My biggest complaint as far as his story goes is he hasn't really faced any adversity, and I'm a sucker for an underdog winner. So while Wendell winning the crown would be perfectly acceptable, it wouldn't be the most exciting for me.


#5



I'm doing these rankings pretty much on the fly without any prior planning, and I'm noticing an unintentional pattern. For similar reasons to Wendell, I'm letting Genie off here. One thing I really like about her that would make her winning very satisfying is that she's one of the last members of her tribe standing. The fact that she's gained such a huge foothold and laid down some social roots with players from all over the place is fascinating and she doesn't seem to be on anyone's radar despite multiple people knowing how well positioned and well liked she is. I would have no complaints if Genie pulled a win out of her hat here.

#4



Jay's been continually impressing me with how well he's able to seize control of things. From taking the leadership role on OG Zakros to somehow managing to turn things on their head at the first swap to where he is now. He always somehow works out a plan and gets people on his side. He particularly impressed me when he played an idol to save Stephanie and saw an opportunity to rope her into his alliance in the round immediately following the one where he and his alliance tried to take her out! It's the kind of gameplay you like to see, for sure. I don't doubt that he'll make it far, and he definitely has the potential to go all the way.

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

#3



I've been looking forward to this write up. Erika's story was what made me decide to do this. She was such a non-entity for a while, just kinda there plotting in the corner and rubbing her hands together menacingly like some kind of gremlin while everyone knew she was shady but didn't think she was threatening enough to worry about. But now they've let the mild non-threat grow to a threatening status. She's actually been able to gain some real traction and it's kind of impressive. It kind of reminds me of real life Erika a little bit. The lion/lamb analogy is a bit overplayed at this point, and in this game no one actually thinks she's a lamb in the first place, but there are some similarities. I'd compare her more to like a jellyfish. She's there, she's a potential danger but not a serious one, and she's all the way over there floating harmlessly in the water so what can she do anyway? Then *ZAP* she stung you, you're in the lurker discord channel, and someone's peeing on you. If she can make it to the end and win it'd be deserved at this point.


#2



I might have honestly put Tyler just a bit lower if it hadn't been for the past round or two. He's FINALLY facing a little adversity and finding himself in a situation where he's got to rely on more than his numbers and Mauso alliances. Not that he wasn't playing well before this, he 100% was. It is definitely worth noting how well Tyler has been able to get along with just about everyone. Only Erika seems immune to his charms. He's very genuine and almost everyone wants to work with him and it's only been in the last couple rounds where people are starting to see it as a threat. I have high hopes for his 1 from every tribe alliance, although it looks a bit rocky to start with. It's a good idea and I like how he knows that it'll appeal to people's more selfish desires to further themselves. He picked some good people to rope in too. Hopefully he's able to get out of the tight spot he's in now. He's certainly got the ability to do it.


And finally, my #1 most satisfying winner...



Is this really a surprise? #Halsey has been trending since the beginning of the game. Has anyone had more of a roller coaster of a story than Lindsey? She's a very emotional player and she's made some bad judgement calls, but she's played mostly a solid game and it would be EXTREMELY satisfying for her to pull off a win after consistently fighting from the bottom on a regular basis. The fact that she's made it this far is incredible and there were so many times when I didn't know if it would happen. And now we've got the whole revenge arc factoring in after she lost Hali. I'm glad Tyler is on the other tribe so she has a chance to cool off before she does something rash. Part of me wants to see her blow some people up in a fit of emotional fury though.

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

This was like the only thing I had thought of to rank so I am open to suggestions if anyone has them

[Catalie]

I wish you color coded Lindsey's write-up. 

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

I wish you color coded Lindsey's write-up. 

Great idea. Fixed.

[Dean Kowalski]

Well now if you're doing that you have to put emojis and yius in Will's

[Kimmi Kappenberg]

Well now if you're doing that you have to put emojis and yius in Will's

I did. I just don't have the knack for it he does so it's more sparsely decorated.